the heel turn happened way too quick. the kid goes from zero to evil in a split second. but the main thing i liked was how they actually enjoyed their super powers. i feel like i could have watched hours and hours of them doing crazy telekinetic crap. it was disappointing, albeit necessary, that they had to introduce some sort of conflict.

there really wasn't a turn. The kid was always bad. Well maybe not bad, but unattached to humanity. I think he'd already shown both an aptitude for the abilities, as well as a more reckless tendency in using them. he started ACTING a bit more normal when he had friends, and a shared secret. And that peaked at the talent show. Which led to the harder crash after he was embarrassed at the party. That led to him further withdrawing and killing his friend, and being shunned by his cousin. Then his mom got sick, and he got worse. Then she died, and he got way worse. I actually think his arc was handled really well.

There was a scene around the middle of the movie that really won me over. Right after they are flying, and almost hit by an airplane, they are having a sleepover, and Andrew says this was the best day of his life, and the other two agree. But for them, it was good because they had done something wholly incredible. But for Andrew, it was just because it was the first time in his life he wasn't seen as a weirdo or a charity case. He was an equal... A friend... THIS was the thing that was wholly incredible to Andrew.

This is probably my favorite aspect of the movie. Fantastic stuff, like flying and moving objects with his mind, comes easy to Andrew. being a normal human being, or talking to a girl... These are out of his reach.

I really liked this movie. I really like when big, fantastic stories are told on a small scale like this. I'm really looking forward to what Max Landis does in the future, because I think he is a really talented writer. He apparently has a crap load of scripts in production.

there really wasn't a turn. The kid was always bad. Well maybe not bad, but unattached to humanity. I think he'd already shown both an aptitude for the abilities, as well as a more reckless tendency in using them. he started ACTING a bit more normal when he had friends, and a shared secret. And that peaked at the talent show. Which led to the harder crash after he was embarrassed at the party. That led to him further withdrawing and killing his friend, and being shunned by his cousin. Then his mom got sick, and he got worse. Then she died, and he got way worse. I actually think his arc was handled really well.

There was a scene around the middle of the movie that really won me over. Right after they are flying, and almost hit by an airplane, they are having a sleepover, and Andrew says this was the best day of his life, and the other two agree. But for them, it was good because they had done something wholly incredible. But for Andrew, it was just because it was the first time in his life he wasn't seen as a weirdo or a charity case. He was an equal... A friend... THIS was the thing that was wholly incredible to Andrew.

This is probably my favorite aspect of the movie. Fantastic stuff, like flying and moving objects with his mind, comes easy to Andrew. being a normal human being, or talking to a girl... These are out of his reach.

I really liked this movie. I really like when big, fantastic stories are told on a small scale like this. I'm really looking forward to what Max Landis does in the future, because I think he is a really talented writer. He apparently has a crap load of scripts in production.

Spoiler:

ok, so i think maybe my problem with the heel turn wasn't how sudden it was, but the degree in which it manifested. maybe it's just a matter of taste, but i didn't want the end to be "super hero" vs. "super villain". the thing with 2 guys flying through the air, fighting each other while wrecking buildings has been done enough already. it was dark city meets matrix revolutions meets superman 2. keeping their faceoff small scale would have been much more compelling.

also...i'm not sure about the cloverfield/blair witch camera thing. if you're a good director, you can make this movie without the gimmick. and by doing the grande finale at the end, the camera crutch starts to lose its credibility. you can't do a big scene like that and keep that style.

Silver Linings Playbook was really good. Great mix of heart and humor. Felt very "real" for the most part, or at least as real as a Hollywood movie can get. I thought Bradley Cooper was great in the lead, Jennifer Lawrence is on top of her game (in more ways than one), and it's nice to see De Niro do something with real substance to it.

Oh, and Chris Tucker is always a welcome sight. But yeah. Recommended to a wide audience.

same, trying to decide if I want to make a marathon out of it with the other 2 first....

I'm not going to do that... No way I'd be able to give it a fair shot right after TDK.

I did it in the theater and quite enjoyed it, actually glad I did as it really did tie in well the themes from both movies and made me realize how much I loved begins. I'm not watching them trying to compare them to one another any way, it's more like one giant story for me and that makes them all really great in my eyes.

Early reviews for "Les Misérables" are out. Seems to be a mix of impressively overwrought and dull, or mesmerizing greatness. Anne Hathaway is getting much kudos for her role, specifically the "I Dreamed a Dream" sequence, which was apparently shot in close-up as one continuous take.

tifosi77 wrote:Early reviews for "Les Misérables" are out. Seems to be a mix of impressively overwrought and dull, or mesmerizing greatness. Anne Hathaway is getting much kudos for her role, specifically the "I Dreamed a Dream" sequence, which was apparently shot in close-up as one continuous take.

Regardless, I love the musical and I'm all-in for this.

I dunno, I think there's a partially overwrought element present somewhere in the core of musical theatre to begin with. Obviously it can be taken too far at times (see: Moulin Rouge), but I think in general it's a big part of what can make the genre so uniquely entertaining.

DA: Well, let me say this: Had Billy chosen to do the Eisenberg/Stupnitsky script of two years ago, it would be out this summer, and it would be a massive hit. If Billy had said yes, it would have satisfied his performance and what he wanted in the movie, it would have satisfied his performing skill and how he wanted to be depicted in the movie, it would have satisfied the studio, the writers who wrote it, everybody — Ivan, me, Harold, we were all happy with it. Then when he said, "Absolutely not, I'm not in this," we had to go and really rethink things. He abrogated his say in the project, abrogated his rights to have any say in it by refusing the third offer from the picture company, which his lawyer put before him, and Billy said, "No, I can't respond." Now we have to move on, but we'll always leave a hole for him. He's always there. He can always come back at any time and be rebuilt into it, as far as I'm concerned. That's up to his lawyer and the picture company to work out, but creatively, he will always be a part of it.